Application of built-in adjuvants for epitope-based vaccines
Yao Lei,
Furong Zhao,
Junjun Shao,
Yangfan Li,
Shifang Li,
Huiyun Chang,
Yongguang Zhang
Affiliations
Yao Lei
State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, OIE/National Foot-and-Mouth Disease Reference Laboratory, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China
Furong Zhao
State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, OIE/National Foot-and-Mouth Disease Reference Laboratory, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China
Junjun Shao
State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, OIE/National Foot-and-Mouth Disease Reference Laboratory, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China
Yangfan Li
State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, OIE/National Foot-and-Mouth Disease Reference Laboratory, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China
Shifang Li
State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, OIE/National Foot-and-Mouth Disease Reference Laboratory, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China
Huiyun Chang
State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, OIE/National Foot-and-Mouth Disease Reference Laboratory, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China
Yongguang Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, OIE/National Foot-and-Mouth Disease Reference Laboratory, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China
Several studies have shown that epitope vaccines exhibit substantial advantages over conventional vaccines. However, epitope vaccines are associated with limited immunity, which can be overcome by conjugating antigenic epitopes with built-in adjuvants (e.g., some carrier proteins or new biomaterials) with special properties, including immunologic specificity, good biosecurity and biocompatibility, and the ability to vastly improve the immune response of epitope vaccines. When designing epitope vaccines, the following types of built-in adjuvants are typically considered: (1) pattern recognition receptor ligands (i.e., toll-like receptors); (2) virus-like particle carrier platforms; (3) bacterial toxin proteins; and (4) novel potential delivery systems (e.g., self-assembled peptide nanoparticles, lipid core peptides, and polymeric or inorganic nanoparticles). This review primarily discusses the current and prospective applications of these built-in adjuvants (i.e., biological carriers) to provide some references for the future design of epitope-based vaccines.
